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6 mo old how to eat more from breast

Hi,
I have a 6 month old who is exclusively breast fed.
He seems to eat less from the breast 5-10 minutes one side only per feed every 2 hours or so when I breast feed him. He fusses at the end if I force him to take more breast after he pulls off. He never eats on both sides in one feed.

When my nanny gives him the bottle he eats 6 ounces every 3 hours no spitting up.

He is also still getting up at night for feeding 2 sometimes 3 times per night. I am trying to extend his eating times at night to every 4-5 hours so he doesn't get used to nightime eating. When he does eat at night he doesn't eat very much anymore, so I think he is just doing it for comfort. I am putting him back to sleep by rocking at night when he gets up and it is not eating time.

I want to know if I should switch to bottle (ebf) or how to get him to eat more from the breast? Or is this normal? I don't want to give him more bottle. How do I get him to eat more from the breast?
How do I maximize the feed at night and in the morning so he sleeps through the night without getting hungry?

Re: 6 mo old how to eat more from breast

He might be getting more than you think in that 5-10 minutes from the breast. Both of my BF'd girls were very efficient nursers. If you are concerned about what he is taking after a nursing session, see if you can go to a IBCLC and weigh the baby, nurse him, and then weigh again. That way you can see exactly what he is getting. Also, he is going to drink much more from a bottle because the flow is so much faster. The bottle is constantly flowing milk and he is swallowing, but he is sucking at the breast in order to get the milk. He might be taking so much from a bottle that he isn't starving when he is direct nursing, too. Make sure he is using a slow flow nipple. Just a few things to think about Hope that helps a little.

Last edited by @llli*mythreegirls; August 24th, 2011 at 08:39 AM.
Reason: typo